Introduction

Zimbabwe has a confirmed bird list of over 660 species and new vagrants continue to be spotted. It is unlikely that any new species resident in the country will be found unless they are created by splitting present species. The best birding areas have been well covered. Although there are no endemic species in Zimbabwe, some are restricted to the forests of the Eastern Highlands and western Mozambique e.g. Chirinda Apalis Apalis chirindensis and Swynnerton's Robin Swynnertonia swynnertoni.

There are many areas of interest for the visiting birder: the Eastern Highlands and the associated Haroni-Rusito and Honde Valleys; the Brachystegia woodlands of the plateau; the Chizarira Fault Block; the Save River basin; Hwange and the Kalahari Sandveld; the Granite domes of Matobos and the Zambezi River. The last is best divided into three sections (a) above the Victoria Falls (b) Kariba Basin and (c) the lower valley including Mana Pools.

The successful African Bird Club tour to Zimbabwe in 2012 found that there were no problems with fuel supplies and that the parts of the country visited, the south and eastern highlands were safe. The move to $US as the curency appears to have stabilised prices and shops had plentiful supplies of goods.

The purpose of this document is to provide a summary of Zimbabwe and its birds for birders interested in the country and potentially planning a visit. The information has been put together from a number of sources by Peter Ginn and it is intended to add new information as it becomes available. It is not exhaustive as this would require much recent information not currently available to the author. As such, readers are welcome to submit contributions by e-mail to info@africanbirdclub.org.